Here's what you need to know before embracing the customer-centric approach

Progressive Singapore companies take the term “customer centricity” from a beautiful slogan to the everyday way of doing business.

No matter where in the world you do business, the notion of customer centricity, or in other words acting your customers’ interest, is widely pronounced yet accepted and executed to a varying degree.

Before we begin our discourse into how Asian companies have revitalized the concept of Customer Centricity, we must first understand that there are really three “Asias” that businesses operate in:

• Mature markets: These are the markets where customer centricity is more than a slogan. It is a business necessity.

For companies in these economies, differentiation on products or pricing doesn’t hold water anymore. The emphasis for many firms is how to become more customer-focused and use insight to drive decisions that delight the customer at all levels.

Countries include Singapore, Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong.

• Emerging markets: These markets have enormous potential and are on the rise in the region. Emerging markets are similar in that they have large populations, stable political situations, and are open to innovation and investment. Countries include Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia.

• China and India: They are markets unto themselves and require local expertise and resources to make an impact there.

Each market, and each economy, has its own unique set of challenges and opportunities. When it comes to customer centricity, however, emerging markets may ultimately have an advantage.

Progressive companies in those markets and economies are taking lessons from the mature economies and are building customer centricity into operations from the genesis of their organizations.

Eventually, they may leapfrog over companies in mature markets to dominate the region. Over the many years in Asia, I have observed that customer experience is an increasingly important topic on the CxO agenda as a means of delighting and hence retaining customers.

Blending the old and the new
The objective is for the experience to exceed expectations and to appeal to the customer on an emotional level, turning him into an advocate.

For most companies, this requires a major transformation across the entire enterprise to become customer-centric in all internal and external activities. It is a large undertaking, often requiring major investments in money, time, and resources.

Yet many firms in Asia are quite conservative, based on their culture. They may be nonaggressive, take few risks, and enact change at a slow pace. Such a philosophy can be a detriment to customer-based strategy development.

At the same time, not all companies subscribe to traditional conservatism. Some want to stand out and be seen as innovators. They take customer strategy to the next level with new products, services, and experiences designed to meet customer needs.

Asia is a great example where the world has become flat. Competitors are coming from anywhere and consumers demand excellence.

Taking a customer-focused approach is a growing concern for Asian businesses, and success will depend on a fully developed plan that includes strategy, tactics, and metrics to maintain momentum. This plan looks different for each company, and is dependent on each firm’s individual market and customer needs.

In some cases it is a small initiative for a selected customer group. In others, it is an enterprise-wide change management transformation. But most importantly, it requires a leader with know-how to build the customer-centric case, commit personally, and lead others.

Best Practices of Asian Customer Centricity
Many countries throughout Asia operate primarily in service economies, which are natural fits for customer centricity. Industries such as hospitality, airlines, banking, telecom, and retail are leading the pack when it comes to customer-focused efforts.

Below are some companies in the region that stand out as customer- centric leaders:

OCBC Bank (Singapore)—Founded in 1912, its commitment to customers has kept OCBC ahead of the competition for 100 years. This year it was named the “World’s Strongest Bank” by Bloomberg Markets magazine, owing its success to a foundation of “product innovation, quality and differentiated customer experience, as well as our disciplined credit management practices and robust risk management capabilities.”

Frasers Hospitality (Singapore)—Extended-stay real estate company Frasers provides luxury business apartments in Asia’s business hotbeds of Singapore, Bangkok, Beijing, Manila, Hanoi, Nanjing, New Delhi, and more. Its reach has extended to key cities through- out Australia, the Middle East, and Europe as well.

Keeping discerning business travelers happy is no easy task, but Frasers’ ultimate goal is “to be the premier global leader in the extended stay market through our commitment to continuous innovation in answering the unique needs of every customer.”

Qatar Airlines (Qatar) - In 2012, for the second year in a row, Qatar Airlines won the prestigious “Airline of the Year” award from Skytrax. The company launched only 15 years ago in the Middle East, and has since grown to serve customers in Europe, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America, and South America.